It’s the late 1990s, and political polarisation in Turkey is more prominent than ever. The tensions between secular and religious Turks are becoming ever-present. Devout Muslims are ostracised, and religious dormitories, or yurts, are regularly raided by soldiers. Fourteen-year-old Ahmet is devastated when his newly religious father forces him to abandon the comfort of his middle-class lifestyle and sends him to one of those dormitories to study Islam. Recently converted, his father sees it as the righteous path for his son, and an opportunity for redemption for himself. For Ahmet, it’s a nightmare, as he is forced to navigate family expectations, his religious obligations and the childhood to which he so desperately clings.
